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DODGE CITY —
Lynn and Helen Pitman wanted to know whether ITC Great Plains was considering building a high-voltage transmission line across their property.
So the Minneola residents made sure to attend ITC’s open house Monday evening at the Dodge House Hotel and Convention Center.
The Pitmans said at first, they thought the transmission line might cross their property in Kiowa County. But after looking at a map showing the proposed routes, they realized their land would not be affected.
Helen Pitman said she hoped ITC would move forward with plans to build a transmission line in southwest Kansas.
“I’d be really pleased to see a transmission line go through here,” she said. “I think it’s important for southwest Kansas.”
ITC is teaming up with Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and Mid-Kansas Electric Co. to build two segments of the Kansas V-Plan, a 345,000-volt transmission line that will stretch from Spearville to Medicine Lodge. Prairie Wind Transmission will build a third section from Medicine Lodge to Wichita.
The project’s goal is to link eastern and western Kansas, creating a stronger electrical grid that will benefit the entire region, according to ITC.
ITC proposed three possible routes for the Spearville-to-Medicine Lodge line. But before company officials submit a site application to the Kansas Corporation Commission for approval, they want to hear from landowners whose property lies along the route.
“What we file in front of the Kansas Corporation Commission is not the best route. It’s not the ideal route,” said ITC President Carl Huslig. “It’s a reasonable route. And that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
He noted that the commission — not ITC —will decide which route is built.
Hundreds of people flocked to the open house, where they studied maps of the proposed routes and quizzed ITC representatives about how the line might affect their property.
After the Kansas Corporation Commission selects a route, ITC will meet with landowners in that corridor to discuss acquiring easements for the project. The company will need right-of-way easements, approximately 200 feet wide, depending on engineering specifications for the line.
Before deciding on a route for the line, ITC needs to know how it will affect area landowners, said company spokesman Joe Kirik.
“It’s a really valuable part of the process — getting the landowners in here and looking at the land and understanding what they have there now, what they’re doing in terms of farming or irrigation or whatever it is they do,” he said.
Kirik said landowners who sell property to ITC will retain full use of most of their land, with some restrictions.
Lynn and Helen Pitman wanted to know whether ITC Great Plains was considering building a high-voltage transmission line across their property.
So the Minneola residents made sure to attend ITC’s open house Monday evening at the Dodge House Hotel and Convention Center.
The Pitmans said at first, they thought the transmission line might cross their property in Kiowa County. But after looking at a map showing the proposed routes, they realized their land would not be affected.
Helen Pitman said she hoped ITC would move forward with plans to build a transmission line in southwest Kansas.
“I’d be really pleased to see a transmission line go through here,” she said. “I think it’s important for southwest Kansas.”
ITC is teaming up with Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and Mid-Kansas Electric Co. to build two segments of the Kansas V-Plan, a 345,000-volt transmission line that will stretch from Spearville to Medicine Lodge. Prairie Wind Transmission will build a third section from Medicine Lodge to Wichita.
The project’s goal is to link eastern and western Kansas, creating a stronger electrical grid that will benefit the entire region, according to ITC.
ITC proposed three possible routes for the Spearville-to-Medicine Lodge line. But before company officials submit a site application to the Kansas Corporation Commission for approval, they want to hear from landowners whose property lies along the route.
“What we file in front of the Kansas Corporation Commission is not the best route. It’s not the ideal route,” said ITC President Carl Huslig. “It’s a reasonable route. And that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
He noted that the commission — not ITC —will decide which route is built.
Hundreds of people flocked to the open house, where they studied maps of the proposed routes and quizzed ITC representatives about how the line might affect their property.
After the Kansas Corporation Commission selects a route, ITC will meet with landowners in that corridor to discuss acquiring easements for the project. The company will need right-of-way easements, approximately 200 feet wide, depending on engineering specifications for the line.
Before deciding on a route for the line, ITC needs to know how it will affect area landowners, said company spokesman Joe Kirik.
“It’s a really valuable part of the process — getting the landowners in here and looking at the land and understanding what they have there now, what they’re doing in terms of farming or irrigation or whatever it is they do,” he said.
Kirik said landowners who sell property to ITC will retain full use of most of their land, with some restrictions.
Concerns
Bucklin farmer Rob Sellards, who owns land on all three routes, said he disliked the routes because a transmission line on his property could harm its value.
Sellards also said when ITC acquires easements for the transmission line, the company should pay the owners an annual fee instead of a one-time-only payment.
“If they’re going to transport electricity the next 50 years, why shouldn’t we get a royalty all 50 years — an annual payment?” he said. “Because our land underneath that’s going to be virtually worthless. We’ll never get to rent it out for oil, we’ll never get to use it for anything. We’ll get to farm under it, but we’re going to have it there for generations and no payment.”
ITC spokesman Joe Kirik told the Globe that the utility industry provides one-time payments for transmission lines, which is consistent with the law governing payments for utility easements.
Other landowners worried that the transmission line would be too close to heavily populated areas.
Spearville resident Dean Nau traced the eastern route for the transmission line for a reporter, using a map showing all three options. He said he hoped ITC would not choose the eastern route, which would cut across his property.
“I’m just not in favor of them going in that populated of an area,” Nau said. “I’ve got a neighbor here. I’ve got a neighbor across the road, a neighbor across the road here, a neighbor across the road over here.”
He said he favored the western route because it was in a less populated area.
